How I’d Invest $100,000

Today, I’m talking to you about what you should do if you have $100,000.

Let’s say you have absolutely worked your butt off for the last two years. So now you have a nice amount of cheese sitting in your account. What are you going to do with it? Well, let me tell you what I would do with it. Let me start with a disclaimer that I am not a financial advisor. So take this advice with a grain of salt, and be sure to put in research to know what is best for your specific situation.

The 20 Best Books for Aspiring Real Estate Investors!

Here at BiggerPockets, we believe that self-education is one of the most critical parts of long-term success, in business and in life, of course. This list, compiled by the real estate experts at BiggerPockets, contains 20 of the best books to help you jumpstart your real estate career.

What I’d Do With $100,000

What are you going to do with it? This is what I would do with it if I were you. First, $50,000 has to go into real estate, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The strategy you use is entirely up to you. Especially in the Midwest, there are a ton of markets and areas where you can buy, fix, and flip a very solid B-class if not A-class property with $50,000. Call me crazy, all of you East coast and West coast folks, but I’ve been doing this for six years on over 500 deals, if not more. I’ve bought properties in A-class areas with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,000 square feet, that are brick and on a golf course, for $22,000. Then I put $40,000 into it and sold it for $119,000. I’ve done deals like that, believe or not, and I can prove it to you. Comment below, and I’ll show you the HUD and the county records.

So, guys, $50,000 has to go into real estate. Buy, fix, and flip; put a property under contract; wholesale it, and make sure you have enough money for closing on that property in case you don’t find a buyer. Immerse yourself in any and everything real estate. There are a lot of strategies that you can use and put that $50,000 to work with.

So, $50,000 in real estate. You ready for the others? I would put $25,000 in oil. Guys, oil has been at rock bottom prices. There are a lot of ways to invest in oil, such as oil-related stocks. With the current economic climate and all of the crazy stuff that is kind of going on, if some kind of friction were to go on between certain countries and a war were to break out, it would be game over. The price per barrel of oil would go over $100, and you would absolutely make a fortune. Yes, it is very risky—but I’m a risk taker. I have a bit of money in oil right now because I kind of feel something might happen, though I hope it doesn’t. You can also invest in an oil fund, but keep in mind, it’s hard to get in with that particular bunch of people so it may require networking. But there are opportunities out there. I am not an oil expert, so once again, take what I’m saying with a grain of salt. I am smart enough to have smarter people around me doing the things that I can’t do or don’t want to do, and I do trust them because their track records speak volumes.Related:Yes, I’m Afraid of a Real Estate Bubble—But I Continue to Invest Anyway. Here’s Why.

I’d put the last $25,000 in crypto-freaking-currency. What the hell is going on there, right? It is absolutely nuts. Look, I do not believe in the frenzy that we are seeing in the media and people pumping up all different cryptocurrencies. Do your own due diligence. I do believe there will be survivors just like there were in the dot-com boom. Amazon survived, eBay survived, and they are thriving today. Someone will survive the crypto bust. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. I do believe the crypto market will bust in a big way. Wall Street is still not in there, which is very weird. When a bubble bursts, usually it’s Wall Street that jumps into the investment first, and then it’s the moms and dads that are jumping in. Here, it’s a little different. You’ve got a lot of tech-savvy entrepreneurs that have jumped into crypto, Wall Street is now following, and then it’s going to be moms and dads later on. So I do think we have a little bit of time before it all comes crashing down.

But what I want you to do if you are going to invest anything in crypto is focus on the team. Make sure that the team behind the crypto-coin that you’re looking at investing in is solid, and make sure that the technology that they have built is legitimate because there are a lot of slow technologies out there. Jump on Reddit, jump on Twitter, and research like crazy. Go down the rabbit hole. Make sure that the utilization of that coin, whatever they want to do with it longterm, makes sense. If you’re in real estate, look at real estate-related cryptocurrencies. If you are a doctor, look at something related to medical cryptocurrencies because that is your field of influence or knowledge. Don’t get involved in things not in your core area of competence.

So summarizing everything guys—$50,000 in real estate, $25,000 in oil, and $25,000 in cryptocurrency. Call me crazy. I want to hear from you.

What are you investing in? If you had $100,000, how would you diversify that money?

Comment below.

Free eBook from BiggerPockets!

Join BiggerPockets and get The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real
Estate Investing for FREE - read by more than 100,000 people -
AND get exclusive real estate investing tips, tricks, and techniques
delivered straight to your inbox twice weekly!

About Author

Engelo Rumora, the Real Estate Dingo and your favorite Australian, quit school at the age of 14 and played professional soccer at the age of 18. From there, he began to invest in real estate. He now owns real estate all over the world and has bought, renovated, and sold over 500 properties. He is currently in the process of launching an ICO that will “Decentralize The Real Estate Industry.” He’s also known for giving houses away to people in need and his crazy videos on YouTube. His life’s mission is to be remembered as someone who gave it his all and gave it all away.

36 Comments

If this 100,000 is money I worked hard saving and it’s all I have, I would not put half of it in ” risky investment”.
I would put 50k in real estate ( single family etc). 25k in low cost mutual funds and 25k in
Notes etc.
Thanks again for your post. I enjoy your articles.

A second way is by giving capital to someone who wants to purchase a property but doesn’t have the money right now etc.. You can charge him a high percent somewhere between 5-12%.
The way your money is secured is by putting a lien on the property ( mortgage)
that is what I was referring to a “note”.

In my last post I thought someone who is just starting out should put 50k in real properties, 25k in low cost mutual funds and 25k in “notes” because this investment vehicle offers a better return then the local bank etc. Another benefit of notes, there are companies ( you should do your own due diligence) that allows investors to put money in deals for large MF in the worst case if you need to take back the property you have a good piece of real estate etc.
Hope this was helpful.
Best regards,
Harry

100% agree with Harry’s strategy and do the same thing with notes. I typically loan hard money to flippers at 8-10% annual interest and its a very low-risk way to make a solid return and be involved in the real estate niche. For retirement accounts (401k, Roths or Traditional IRA), do low-cost mutual funds with a 3- or 4-fund portfolio and you will be solid. For the risky and volatile crytos, I wouldn’t recommended putting 25% of your hard-earned money into that. I invest in some cryptos, but only with the extra “fun” money I have each month after putting into my real estate investment fund and work 401k. To each their own, but like the author stated, make sure you are investing in something you know and understand!

I hope you invested in bitcoin at 19,000. Let’s not delude ourselves and think that the government would not get involved into crypto currencies if they challenged the system. Did people make money? yes. Have some lost their shirts? yes. The challenge will be picking the winner and when to get in (and out).

Jumped in kind of late on the crypto scene luckily without investing to much money. Realized i bought to high, bitcoin dropping to 6,000 reminded me of that since all of the alternative [alt] coins (anything other than bitcoin) followed. I think the million dollar question is what happens when the stock market corrects 15 – 20%? does crypto keep going up? I don’t think it will crypto will correct as well in my opinion. There are some solid projects out there but not sure if buying right now would be purchasing at the peek if you compare prices from today to the end of last year when prices started to moon (skyrocket)

Oil was at $43/barrel in June. Its at $60 now. A 40% gain in 8 months and NOW you want people to buy it!
Crypto- From pennies to hundreds and thousands of dollars per coin and NOW you want people to not only buy it, but try to pick the survivors out of the 1400 or so crypto coins? Come on.
Sorry, but this is some of the worst advice I’ve seen on BP.

It really comes down to who you know when investing in speculative investments.

For example: I bought into an oil fund that had options at $5,000 an acre (Around $40 per barrel when they bought the minerals) and now the per acre price is around $15,000. This was more of an arbitrage deal and they just started drilling.

I could also go into where I see value in the crypto world but I’ll save that for another time

I was literally about to write the same thing. How in the world did I get an email from BiggerPockets – a website about real estate investing – with an article that promotes using half of your life savings for oil and crypto speculation? Is BiggerPockets running low on content or something? Seems like an editor should have caught this and, at minimum, prevented it from being a featured post on today’s email blast.

Well I think a little risk is OK …however I would roll everything into real estate cash flowers..does’t matter if market goes up or down I am still making money every month especially if I am holding and rates are still low …~

Everyone needs to find out what works for them. Engelo pretty much states that when he said this is what I would do. Remember this is coming from someone who is obviously pretty successful given his bio. I admire what he said. Essentially 50% in safe real estate 25% moderate risk 25% extremely risky, the big wins come from educated risk!!!
Engelo how and what locations are you finding your deals? Any people you wouldn’t mind referring me too??
Thanks,
Matthew

Thanks for the article Engelo. I completely agree with you on cryptos. It’s an asset class that should not be ignored. While no one can know what will happpen with Bitcoin, etherium, etc., the blockchain is here to stay. Nothing goes digital and then goes back to the old way; and money is no different. And your right about the team behind the coin, it means everything.

As far as real estate, if you had that $50K and were starting from scratch, what strategy would you employ and what market would you pick?

Even the articles that I read that are gung-ho about cryptos will tell you it’s a speculative investment. 25% of one’s investment pool? I don’t think so.

How one should invest $100K really depends on what that money represents. Is it life savings that would take 10 years to save up again if it were lost? Or is it simply a set-aside of a much larger net worth, and it can be replenished in another year or two if an investment went sour? The answer would greatly affect what to do with it.

Well this article is just the authors ‘opinion’ but I don’t find it to be of much value. Essentially he is saying invest 50,000 in real estate ( not sure why he chose this ratio and it seems completely arbitrary) and try wholesaling or flipping , both of which require skill and knowledge the avg person doesn’t have. – again seems pretty fast and loose with the advice.

He is then saying use the other 50% to completely speculate on oil and crpyto currency. You don’t have to look far to see how much money people are loosing in crpyto and the idea of investing 1/4th of your money in a high risk ‘asset’ like bitcoin is not a good idea , generally speaking.

Again, this article is just one persons opinion but it was not well thought out. To be a successful investor in real estate , or any asset , it requires thoughtful and through analysis. Anything other than that is pure speculation and most speculative bets in the stock market loose about 80% of the time.

My advice to someone who just came into 100K would be : invest in index funds ( 80% stocks , 20% bonds ) and let it sit there for at least a year. Maybe put down 15-20K as a downpayment on a rental property to start collecting some passive income but in go slow and be conservative and your wealth will grow over time – not by flinging money into ‘oil’ or ‘crypto’ or trying your hand at wholesaling a 22K property ,where you might get stuck holding a very undesirable property.

Sure, my strategy is more defensive investing and yours is more aggressive and higher risk but has potentially higher returns ( and losses ). I think using leverage and allowing others to pay your note via rents is a tried and true strategy as long as you do not over extend yourself.
thanks

I agree w/ buying real estate, but not to flip, instead, to rent. I have a rental with a great tenant and the money coming in each month is solid. I have another property that I’m about to list as an AirBnB. If that doesn’t work out, it will be another solid long term rental.

The most important question is, where are you finding properties that cost only $22K? Foreclosures/REO? If these are not foreclosures then they must be tiny or need more than $50K in rehab. Help me understand that. Search the BP marketplace…nothing there in this price range.

Interesting recommendations in the article Engelo . Can’t say I would have thought of Oil or Crypto, as my life’s work is in RE, but your post is much appreciated, considering no matter what you say, people will reject it… You could write an article about 2+2 equaling 4 and someone would come and shoot it down to be a keyboard star! This is not to say I agree either about your recommendations, but it’s nice to read people’s opinions and/or strategies, really gets me thinking from more angles – thanks for going out on a limb. Also, your bio says you’re Aussie so reading your post with that in mind helps me understand your stance, seeing as every Aussie I’ve ever met is witty/hilarious/great; I also know you aren’t recommending people to spend their LAST $25k they have to their name on Crypto, etc. That being said, let’s do some deals in the Midwest together!

The interesting thing about the oil reco is that many mid western states’ real estate opportunities are because of oil. Yet, it was only 5 years ago the industry entered a bear super cycle and decimated many areas.

My two cents, avoid oil. Sure a conflict could break out, but as someone who’s done their homework and taken their licks in commodities trading, the price of oil is always pure speculation based on many murky levels of supply and demand.

The middle East is no longer the world’s swing producer, the US has become the winner in that category with cracking and other new technologies.

$100 oil may be possible, but that’s a lot of money to bet on speculation.